Senate approves Tulsi Gabbard as Trump’s National Intelligence Director after intense fight

The Senate has approved Tulsi Gabbard as the new top U.S. intelligence official despite concerns raised by some lawmakers regarding her past actions.

Gabbard was considered one of President Donald Trump’s most controversial nominees when he named her his pick for Director of National Intelligence. 

The Senate voted 52 – 48 to confirm Gabbard to become the next DNI. 

One notable dissenting vote came from Mitch McConnell, a former Republican Senate leader who has had conflicts with former President Trump in the past. McConnell was the sole Republican who voted against Gabbard’s nomination.

Democrats slammed her judgement leading up to her Senate confirmation and raised doubts over her ability to keep information safe. 

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer voiced strong opposition to Gabbard’s confirmation, stating that every Democrat opposed her nomination due to concerns about her past statements echoing Russian propaganda and promoting conspiracy theories.

Schumer went on to note how Gabbard ‘has said things like the Ukraine invasion was caused by the United States, not by Putin’ and denied former Syrian leader Bashar Al-Assad’s ‘use of chemical weapons despite all of the intelligence.’

Though Gabbard has countered those remarks, saying Putin is to blame for beginning the Ukraine-Russia war and admitting Assad committed heinous acts.

They also questioned whether allies would share intelligence with the U.S. if she were put in charge of the 18 agencies and organizations that make up the intelligence community.

McConnell, who sided with every Democrat to vote against Gabbard, released a scathing statement explaining his vote against her confirmation.  

‘The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) is a key participant in the process that informs every major national security decision the President makes,’ the Kentucky Republican wrote. ‘The ODNI wields significant authority over how the intelligence community allocates its resources, conducts its collection and analysis, and manages the classification and declassification of our nation’s most sensitive secrets.’

‘In my assessment, Tulsi Gabbard failed to demonstrate that she is prepared to assume this tremendous national trust,’ McConnell shared. 

The final vote came after Gabbard, a former Democratic lawmakers and lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve, had her nomination moved favorably out of the Senate Intelligence Committee along party lines last week. 

Several Republican lawmakers who had expressed concerns with her past comments came around in the end and voted to advance her nomination. 

But Gabbard’s path to becoming U.S. chief intelligence officer faced a bumpy road before she squeaked through. 

On January 30, she was put under the microscope with a brutal grilling from Republican and Democratic senators in the Senate Intelligence Committee where she clashed with senators on both sides of the aisle. 

Lawmakers took issue over whether she still believed Edward Snowden should receive a pardon after leaking highly classified information. 

They also raised concerns over her comments blaming NATO when Russia invaded Ukraine and with her 2017 meeting with then-Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad.

Even heading into last week’s committee vote, Gabbard’s confirmation was not assured as Senator Todd Young refused to say which way he planned to vote on her nomination up until the final hours.

During her confirmation hearing, he appeared irritated that Gabbard would not call Edward Snowden a traitor. 

In the end, Young voted yes on Gabbard after receiving additional assurance from her, coordinating with Vice President JD Vance and even having a brief phone call with President Donald Trump.

Young described the call with the president as ‘very positive’ and said Trump told him to ‘vote his conscience.’

Two other senators also indicated they would vote for the nominee after not indicating which way they were leaning ahead of the committee vote along party lines.

Senator James Lankford, R-Okla., said he was a yes on Gabbard after speaking with her directly.

Senator Susan Collins, R-Maine, released a lengthy statement before she moved to advance Gabbard out of committee. 

Collins said Gabbard addressed her concerns regarding her views of Snowden, and she looked forward to working with her. 

On Monday, as the full Senate took a procedural vote to advance her nomination, Senator Bill Cassidy, R-La., announced he would trust Trump’s decision to choose Gabbard as his point person on foreign intelligence.

Senator Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, also noted she continues to have concerns about Gabbard’s past positions but supported her. 

‘I appreciate her commitment to rein in the outsized scope of the agency, while still enabling the ODNI to continue its essential function in upholding national security,’ Murkowski wrote.

Gabbard made it through the the procedural hurdle on Monday evening with the vote coming down along party lines. 

In the end, the committee voted favorably for her nine to eight clearing the path for what was once considered one of Trump’s toughest nominees to be confirmed.

Her confirmation indicates that every one of Trump’s Cabinet level nominees will be approved by Republicans in the Senate even if a few GOP members vote against them along the way. 

Gabbard served as a Democratic lawmaker from Hawaii from 2013 until 2021. She previously served in the state legislature and deployed to Iraq in 2004 with the Hawaii Army National Guard. 

She ran as a Democrat in the 2020 Democratic presidential primary where she had a loyal group of supporters but never broke out as a top candidate. 

Gabbard left the Democratic party to become an Independent in 2022 before joining the Republican party last year. 

At the time, there was talk of her even serving as his running mate before he settled on Vance last July. Gabbard endorsed Trump for president the following month.